David Dinkins dies

 

 Eyewitness News  

New York City's first Black mayor, David Dinkins, has died at the age of 93.

Police responded to Dinkins' home Monday evening, just after 9 p.m. after a 911 call came in from a home health aide who discovered him.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Dinkins was the 106th mayor of the city and the first, and so far, only Black person to hold the office.

Dinkins went from the New York State Assembly to becoming the Manhattan Borough President.

The pinnacle of his career was becoming mayor of New York City, making history in the process.

DeBlasio renaming Municipal Building for Dinkins

From the Observer:

Mayor Bill de Blasio has a big gift for his former boss: a 40-story piece of real estate downtown.

The Manhattan Municipal Building will be renamed for former Mayor David Dinkins, announced Mr. de Blasio—and his wife, Chirlane McCray, whom he met while they both worked for the 106th mayor of New York.

“Those of us who were lucky to serve in the Dinkins Administration had the honor of serving a leader who took challenges head on,” Mr. de Blasio said in a statement. “He’s left an indelible impact on this city—and on Chirlane’s and my lives. We are so grateful for Mayor Dinkins’ decades of public service and everything he’s done to ensure a stronger, safer city. I can’t think of a more fitting tribute than to rename the Municipal Building, where he spent 14 years of his career, in his honor.”

Mr. Dinkins told the Observer he was “delighted” by the honor, but sought to share it with those who worked alongside him.

Why is de Blasio sending the homeless to NYCHA less often?

From the Daily News:

Homeless New Yorkers are getting a smaller share of Housing Authority apartments under Mayor de Blasio than under previous administrations, a report to be released Tuesday found.

De Blasio, who is grappling with record-high numbers of homeless people needing shelter, has pledged 750 NYCHA apartments a year for homeless New Yorkers, about 12% of the total NYCHA placements available.

That’s a sharp decrease from the number of units provided in prior administrations, when fewer New Yorkers were homeless, according to the Homes for Every New Yorker coalition report.

Former Mayor David Dinkins prioritized an average of 1,215 NYCHA units annually for homeless families, at a time when fewer than 25,000 New Yorkers were living in shelters nightly — as compared with 60,000 people today.

Under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the shelter census was at about 30,000 a night, and the city set aside an average of 854 NYCHA units a year for the homeless, according to the report.

In his first term, ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg continued with the practice of placing thousands of homeless in NYCHA apartments, averaging about 1,662 public housing placements a year through 2005. But he completely stopped giving homeless families priority, saying in 2004 that doing so creating an incentive for families to go to shelters.

Overall, there are about 270,000 New Yorkers on the NYCHA waitlist.

The report, to be released Tuesday, urges de Blasio to increase the number of homeless placements in NYCHA apartments to 2,550 a year.

Dinkins disses deBlasio

From the NY Times:

To punctuate an impassioned pitch for his signature plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio went out of his way during a speech on Monday to praise a cherished political mentor and former boss watching from the audience.

The recipient of his warm words, former Mayor David N. Dinkins, did not exactly return the favor.

In an unscripted and cringe-inducing moment of political candor, Mr. Dinkins opined before a crowd of journalists and academics at Columbia University that Mr. de Blasio should consider a different approach to funding an expansion of prekindergarten programs, throwing a wrench into what was meant to be a carefully choreographed day of municipal theater.

Citing skepticism in Albany, Mr. Dinkins suggested that Mr. de Blasio could turn to a tax on suburban commuters, rather than the tax-the-rich plan that became a centerpiece of his mayoral campaign.

“I think we might have more success with the other one,” Mr. Dinkins said, referring to his commuter plan, a comment that prompted applause from some members of the audience.

Onstage, Mr. de Blasio kept a mirthless smile on his face. “I take your point to heart,” he said.

Lobbyist salivating over DeBlasio victory

From the Daily News:

Joe Lhota is so very right about Bill de Blasio taking us back to the bad old days of the David Dinkins era.

He is just wrong about why we should worry.

The biggest threat to the city in potential slippage is not a spike in crime or renewed riots that leave police cars spinning upside down like tops on the street, as Lhota’s ads suggest. No, the threat comes from the return of lobbyists like Sid Davidoff, who, with the rise of de Blasio, are returning like Freddy Krueger on Halloween.

If you do not recall the dalliance between Davidoff and the Dinkins administration, count yourself lucky. It went something like this:

Dinkins was a tennis fanatic. He played many mornings and had a good backhand. Naturally, there were many people looking to bounce a ball back and forth with the mayor.

Among them was Davidoff, another fine tennis player whose deep interest in city government began with his days in the John Lindsay administration and continued as head of a prosperous firm of lobbyists and lawyers.

Davidoff made an excellent living making sure that contracts, leases and variances for his clients won approvals. In those years, he was a regular fixture in the west wing of City Hall, where he was also close with the first deputy mayor, Norman Steisel, and closer still with Steisel’s chief of staff.

These ties served Davidoff well. With clients ranging from Donald Trump to water meter suppliers, his firm was the league champion among city lobbyists throughout the Dinkins years . It helped that every time the press reported that one of Davidoff’s clients had scored an unseemly gain from the public coffers, more clients appeared at his door.

Davidoff is now an honored senior citizen in the lobbying ranks. And he is also among the excited army of advocates-for-hire who, thanks to de Blasio’s rise, are already beating on the doors of City Hall, somewhat like those ravenous tribes of the undead that populate all the best television shows.

Bridge to be named after Dinkins?

From the Daily News:

Ed Koch has a bridge named after him, so why not David Dinkins?

That’s the question City Councilman Fernando Cabrera will ask Thursday when he introduces a bill to rename the Willis Avenue Bridge after New York’s first and only African-American mayor.

“David Dinkins was a political pioneer,” said Cabrera (D-Bronx). “Nobody knows who Willis was. But Dinkins was the mayor who turned the city around.”

Mr. Cabrera believes in revisionist history, apparently.

More from the Passerelle

I wonder how Dave feels to have this eyesore named after him. Although considering the way NYC was during his reign, it's kind of appropriate.